cábalavscableConfusable pair

Which to use

“cábala” and “cable” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,676
“cábala” frequency rank
#3,034
“cable” frequency rank
47710
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cábala cable
Definition Tradición oral de la interpretación del Tanaj (biblia hebrea), originada en las comunidades judías de la España y Francia medievales, y luego adoptada y transformada por distintas escuelas teosóficas. Cabo grueso, maroma.

Where the eye mixes cábala and cable

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
cábala
5 ch
cable

Visual trap between cábala and cable

A purely visual mix-up. cábala ([ˈkaβ̞ala]) and cable ([ˈkaβ̞le]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47710, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cábala is recorded at frequency rank #44,676, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaβ̞ala]. cable is at rank #3,034, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaβ̞le].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 47710, this pair ranks #118,552 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cábala vs cable

Shared letters: abcl. Private to "cábala": á. Private to "cable": e.

"cábala" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "cable" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cableacble · cabble · cabel · cablle · calbe · cavle · cbale · ccable

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cábala" and "cable" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkaβ̞ala] versus [ˈkaβ̞le]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cábala" or "cable"?
"cable" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,034 in our Spanish list, against #44,676 for "cábala". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cábala" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cable" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #118,552 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cábala" and "cable" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cábala vs casará". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #118,552 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list